I love summer. It looks like there are so many vegetables finally ready to eat. I enjoy rhubarb too but there was not much else here in the Midwest for quite a while and now all of the sudden we have so many more to choose from. So ended up picking yellow beans for this week.
I’m presenting a simple Hungarian yellow bean soup recipe that many Hungarians know how to make but I added my little twist to it. I like reading about foods and experimenting with them. So I was reading that Hungarian cuisine was a little bit different when Hungarians lived in Asia. Over the years they lost some of the ingredients and picked up new ones. So I had the idea why not add chickpeas and curry to this bean soup. Who knows maybe our ancestors made the soup like this back wherever they came from ?!?
The sweet yellow bean is nutritious and is high in fiber but really is not the most exciting vegetable. The real flavor IMO comes from the seasoning especially from the dill. Dill is a unique sweet plant that gives the zesty, tangy flavor with slightly bitter undertones. It helps digestion and calms the mind. Also, adding the sour cream or yogurt is a must at the end … and then you get a pleasant sweet and sour soup.
As I have mentioned I added chickpeas to the dish. If you look at a chickpea, you can see it resembles the heart and is considered to be beneficial for the heart. It is a good source of iron and unsaturated fats.
I often make this soup more of an entree by adding an egg or other protein. It is very filling this way, for sure. I just put the soup in a jar and take it with me in the summer. It is an instant lunch on the go for me. Oh yes and I get the stares from Hungarians … what is that dish?!? … lol.
RECIPE
Serves 4 people
This is my recipe so please don’t publish without proper citation.
Ingredients
- 1 lb of yellow beans
- oil (vegetable, lard)
- 1 medium size onion, chopped
- 1 tsp of sweet Hungarian paprika (make sure it is authentic)
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 chopped large tomato
- vegetable or meat stock (I used pea shells)
- 3 carrots, thinly sliced
- 1 zucchini, optional
- 1-3 bay leaves
- 1 yellow pepper, optional
- handful of dill, chopped
- 2 Tbsp white vinegar
- 1 cup dried or 1 can of chickpeas (14 oz)
- salt and black pepper
- red pepper to taste
- sour cream or yogurt to garnish
Directions
- Clean and soak the chickpeas overnight or for at least 8 hours. Remove the soaking liquid and discard. Add fresh cold water and cook for 3 hours. A pressure cooker would greatly reduce the cooking time. (Omit if using canned chickpeas).
- Making the soup base: Saute the onion in some oil for 5 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic, paprika and curry powder, mix and after 1 minute add the chopped tomato. Mix and cook for about 5- 10 minutes or until tomato has cooked into a sauce.
- Wash the yellow beans. Cut the ends off on both sides and discard. Cut them up into 1 inch pieces. Clean and cut the carrots. Oh and I almost forgot I like to put in zucchini too. So wash and cut zucchini into about 1 inch pieces.
- Add the cut up yellow beans, carrot slices, bay leaves, zucchini and the stock. I like to add a yellow pepper for flavoring or at least its seed house. Cook for about 30 -45 minutes or until the beans are soft. Remove the pepper and bay leaves.
- Add the cooked or canned chickpeas with its liquid and the white vinegar.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Add the red chili pepper if desired.
- Serve hot with chopped dill and sour cream/yogurt.
enjoy!
Recipe, text and photos by twincitiesherbs.com
Twin Cities Herbs 
I will repost at 3:33 on July 13th, with full credit. Thank you!
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Oh thank you! Enjoy! cheers!
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